Creating a New Partition

Installing OpenSolaris requires assigning it a unique partition. This process has three primary tasks, including creating a GParted Live CD, loading GParted and then using it to shrink an existing partition and create a new partition with the newly unallocated space.

Download GParted Partitioning Software and Create a Bootable CD

1. Go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779 and download an ISO image file of the GParted program.
   The ISO file is about eighty megabytes large.
2. Place a blank CD in the optical drive, and open CD/DVD Creator.
   Click Places on the taskbar and select CD/DVD Creator.
3. Drag the g4u ISO image onto the CD/DVD Creator's white box.
   A file icon appears in the white space.
4. Click Write to Disc, to the above right of the white box.
   A window detailing possible actions appears.
5. Click Create From Image.
   Further writing options are presented in a new window.
6. Click Write.
   After a minute or two, the disc is complete.

Boot From the GParted CD

1. Restart your computer with the GParted CD in the optical drive.
   The GParted package configuration module boots.
2. Select Don't touch keypad and press Enter.
   A prompt to enter the graphical environment is displayed.
3. Enter the graphical environment.
   The graphic configuration package runs, prompting you to select your video card from a list.
4. Select your video card, and press Enter.
   Vesa is the most common video card.
   A prompt to select screen resolutions for the graphic package appears.
5. Press Enter to keep the default settings.
   A prompt to select your language appears.
6. Select your language, and press Enter.
   The computer processes your inputs, prints a series of information to the screen, and then loads the GParted GUI.

Shrink an Existing Partition and Create a new Partition

Warning: GParted is designed to prevent you from accidentally shrinking a partition enough to destroy data. However, be sure to have a backup ready. Further, the following instructions are designed for Ubuntu users with build-standard partitioning arrangements. If you have changed your computer's partitions since installing Ubuntu, these instructions might damage the information on your hard drive.

1. Right-click on the ext3 partition, and select Resize/Move.

A window with partition-resizing options appears.

1. Make room for a new OpenSolaris installation by increasing Free Space Following and shrinking New Size.
   OpenSolaris occupies a bit more than three gigabytes on the drive, but most users will need additional room for packages and documents. As such, a minimum partition size of ten gigabytes is recommended.
2. Right-click the new unallocated disk space and select New.
   A window appears, detailing partitioning options.
3. Click on Filesystem, select linux-swap, and close the window by clicking Add.
   The window disappears, and the partition addition is planned.
4. Click Apply, and wait for planned changes to be implemented.
   A window appears, noting the operations' level of completeness. Wait until “All operations completed successfully” appears in the blue bar. This can take several hours.
5. Restart the computer by clicking Exit, Reboot, and then OK.
   You are prompted to remove the GParted Live CD.
6. Remove the Live CD, and then press Enter.